德国人为什么这么小气？

choi

史蒂文•埃文斯, 记者来鸿：德国人为什么这么小气？  BBC Chinese, Nov 28, 2012.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/si ... inner_parties.shtml


, which is translated from

Stephen Evans, Frugality Rules at German Dinner Parties. BBC, Nov 17, 2012.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20355476
("Germans do not actually earn very much compared to those in other European countries - less than in France and Spain and about two-thirds what a comparable British worker has. And the German wage has barely risen over the past decade. They are frugal because they hold back on pay")

Note:
(a) My cup of tea. The Phrase Finder, undated.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/my-cup-of-tea.html
(b) The article says, "The table was laid in the couple's flat."

lay (vt): "to set in order or position <lay a table for dinner> <lay brick>"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lay

(c) porcini
(i) (n; Italian, plural of porcino, short for fungo porcino, literally, porcine mushroom; First Known Use 1976)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/porcini
(ii) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcini

(d) crème fraîche
Crème fraîcheen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crème_fraîche

* fraîche (adj): "fresh"
The ARTFL Project, University of Chicago
(e) au fait (French for "at fact"): "being familiar with or informed about something. <Are you au fait with the rules of the game?>"
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/au_fait
(f) Media Markt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Markt

(g) The German word "danke" and "nein danke/ danke, nein" means "thanks" and "No thanks," respectively.
(h) The article said, "In this city of Berlin, for example, women - Trümmerfrauen (rubble women) - scrabbled through the streets, scavenging in the years after the war."

* trümmer (noun masculin): "debris, rubble, wreckage" [NOT rubbish]
* frau (noun feminine); "woman"  (The "frauen" is the plural form, corresponding to "woman" in English.)
* scrabble (v; Dutch schrabbelen to scratch):
"2: to scratch, claw, or grope about clumsily or frantically
* * *
3b : to struggle by or as if by scraping or scratching <scrabble for survival>"
www.m-w.com